Ryan Newson: Don’t compare protests to 1898

There is much to object to in J. Peder Zane’s Nov. 23 column “Democrats may be incapable of taking the high road,” not least is his minimization of concerns over the racialized violence that has been on an uptick since the recent election, as noted by the Anti-Defamation League, as well as his persistence in making a false equivalency between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

Zane ignored the fact that it is Trump who ran one of the most rhetorically divisive, knowingly conspiratorial and racially charged campaigns in recent memory and then wonders why many feel worried about his rise to power.

Even so, what really goes beyond the pale is Zane’s suggestion that protests from the past weeks are in any way equivalent to the white supremacist coup that occurred in Wilmington in 1898. It is ethically, politically and historically irresponsible to do so, and should be denounced in no uncertain terms.

Of course, if Zane really thought the recent “ugliness” approaches what happened in 1898, then perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that he cannot see the problems inherent to a Trump administration, as such a comparison could only be made by someone whose capacities for discernment are severely broken.

Ryan Newson

Raleigh

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